1. Discovering Your Roots
Basic Record Types and Strategies
Nicole Dyer
FamilyLocket.com

2. Family History You can find extraordinary things about ordinary people.
Discovery awaits!

3. Where Will You Build Your Tree?
Option
Price
Features
FamilySearch.org
Free
One big collaborative public tree, many record hints, mobile app
Ancestry.com
Subscription required. Free trial available. Search records free at library/school
Private and public tree options, many record hints, mobile app
MyHeritage.com
Personal family tree, free downloadable program, many records, mobile app

4. How to Begin Choose Find Record
Record the information in your family tree
Find
Find basic records about them
Census
Birth, marriage, death certificates
Choose
Choose with a deceased great-grandparent to start with
How to Begin

5. Choose a Person to Start With
Lance’s family tree
Choose one of his grandparents to start with
What would you like to know?

6. Lynn Young Hancock Know: Lance’s mother’s father
Birth year: 1913 in Arizona
Death year: 1986 in Oregon
Wife: Ada Bell Gifford
Want to Know:
Parents names
Specific birth and death dates and places
When and where married
Any interesting facts about his life

7. How to Know if Information is Accurate
Primary: eyewitness account
Secondary: heard from someone else
Unknown: don’t know the informant
Source
Original: first record of an event
Derivative: index, transcription
Authored: original work

8. Original Sources Birth Record Marriage Record Death Record
Cemetery Record
Census Records
Military Records
Original Sources
Usually created by a county government office, federal government, church, cemetery, etc.

9. Derivative Sources Database of Births Online
Social Security Death Index
Census Transcription
Derivative Sources
Usually created by a genealogy website, company, historical society, library

10. Family Trees published online
Family History Books
Biography
Report
Authored Sources
Usually created by an individual – researcher, author, etc.

11. Original Records are Best!
First record created of an event
Less reliant on memory
Often tell the truth more reliably

12. Find Lynn on an Original Record
Ancestry.com
Name: Lynn Young Hancock
Birth year: 1913
Birth place: Arizona

13. Which birth record should we look at – the one with an image, or without?

14. Birth Certificate New information learned
Before you add this to your pedigree…

15. Standard Formats for Genealogy Info
Dates
Day, month, year
24 July 1913
Places
City, County, State, Country
Taylor, Navajo, Arizona, USA

17. Birth Certificate New information learned
Birthplace: Taylor, Navajo County, Arizona
Birthdate: 24 July 1913
Father: Thomas Hancock, born in Leeds, Utah
Is Leeds a town or county?
Search Google for Leeds, Utah
Mother: Mary Marilla Bates, born in Utah

19. Find A Grave Index New information learned
Death date 13 Nov 1986
Death place Trail, Jackson County, Oregon
Mother’s name: Mary Morilla Evans?
What is the source of this information?

20. Leeds, Washington, Utah

22. Photo
What clues does this photo give us?
Clothing
People
Time period

23. Public Member Stories What type of Source? Original Derivative
Authored

24. Find an Original Record to Corroborate
Narrow Ancestry search by Military records
Search Google
“Lynn Young Hancock” Fold3
“Lynn Young Hancock” FamilySearch

25. Ordinary people, Extraordinary lives
Medal of honor
Courage, unselfish concern for welfare of others
Letter from the president

27. Why do you think his birth year is listed incorrectly?
Was Lynn an eyewitness to his own birth? Or is this secondary information?

29. 1920 Census

31. 1920 Census Extra Info in the Census Image
Do the Hancocks own their home or rent?
Birthplaces of Thomas Hancock’s parents?

33. Add the new information to your pedigree chart

34. Add the new information to your pedigree chart

35. 1930 Census

36. Questions that Arise from the Records
Why is Lynn living with his sister at age 17?
What happened to Lynn’s parents?
Let’s search for Thomas Hancock, Lynn’s father.

38. Thomas’ Death
Thomas died before 1930, when Lynn was only 10. That’s partly why Lynn was living with his sister in 1930.
“Handcock”
Names will be spelled differently on different records. Don’t be too surprised to see spelling variants!

41. Censuses How do I know if this record matches my ancestor?
Compare unique information
Combining all the unique information about a person forms a unique identity for them, like a fingerprint
The more details you know, the better
The more specific your details, the better

43. 1880 Census Thomas Hancock, Walker, AZ
Detail
What We Know
What the Record Shows
Name
Thomas Hancock
Birth Year
1876
Birth Place
Leeds, Utah
Utah Territory
Residence
Taylor, Navajo, Arizona
Walker, Apache, Arizona
Parents’ Birthplaces
Ohio
Ireland
Relatives
Mom: ?
Dad: ?
Spouse: Mary Marilla Bates
Mom: Margaret Hancock
Dad: Mosiah Hancock
Spouse: ?
Occupation
Farmer
At home
Match!

44. 1880 Census Thomas Hancock, Silver Reef, Utah
Detail
What We Know
What the Record Shows
Name
Thomas Hancock
Birth Year
1876
1862
Birth Place
Leeds, Utah
Utah Territory
Residence
Taylor, Navajo, Arizona
Silver Reef, Washington, Utah
Parents’ Birthplaces
Ohio
Ireland
Illinois
England
Relatives
Mom: ?
Dad: ?
Spouse: Mary Marilla Bates
Spouse: ?
Occupation
Farmer
Wood chopper
Not a Match

45. Be Careful When Matching Records to your Ancestor!
People of the same name
People with very similar information
The most unique identifiers can be other people: spouse, children, etc.

46. Learn to Research in any Place
FamilySearch Wiki
Encyclopedia for family history research
wiki/en/Main_Page

47. Wiki Article for Ireland
Links to specific record groups
How to find birth information, etc.
Links to websites that can help

48. Wiki Article for United States Newspapers
Websites to find digitized newspapers
What you can find about your ancestors in newspapers

49. Good Luck! Don’t give up Try different search combinations
Continue learning about records and research strategies